When the party in power loses 331 seats and comes the third place in local elections, a person who has hated being under that parties rule for 11 years, watching the education system in this country be destroyed and everybody’s life getting harder… that person might open a bottle of wine and have a little drink.
But when that person also discovers that the Conservative candidate for the London Mayoral election, Boris Johnson , is also on his way to winning (they haven’t announced at the time of writing but, fingers crossed) one begins to dance a little.
Yes, he says things he shouldn’t but sometimes he talks a lot of sense.
On trains - 2002:
"I forgot that to rely on a train, in Blair’s Britain, is to engage in a crapshoot with the devil.";
On obesity - 2004
"There is absolutely no one, apart from yourself, who can prevent you, in the middle of the night, from sneaking down to tidy up the edges of that hunk of cheese at the back of the fridge."
and anyone who says they feel
"Tremendous, little short of superb. On cracking form."
and
"My friends, as I have discovered myself, there are no disasters, only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters."
after being sacked gets my vote.
Update: They just announced - he bloody won !
Come on Gordon - announce the General Election! End our suffering and yours! Don’t make me make the chicken noises again!
May 3rd, 2008 at 1:41 am
On Thursday’s election program one of the BBC’s presenters said, “You can’t imagine London without Ken Livingstone.” I commented that it would be like imagining a sewer without the effluence.
May 3rd, 2008 at 1:43 am
I should also mention that we aren’t celebrating ’round here because the LibDems got in. We’re all just crossing our fingers and hoping the bins still get emptied every Wednesday.
May 3rd, 2008 at 4:52 am
“When the party in power loses 331 seats and comes the third place in local elections, a person who has hated being under that parties rule for 11 years, watching the education system in this country be destroyed and everybody’s life getting harder… that person might open a bottle of wine and have a little drink.”
____________________________________
Actually Bec, although you are describing a political scenario in jolly old England, it is virtually identical to to the dream of so many Americans with regard to our presidential elections in November. That is, we pray that not only a Democrat wins the election and succeed that cocksucker Bush, but also that the Dems win several more seats in Congress. In actuality, we want to blow up the Republican Party, who has made life miserable for everyone in my country except the roughly five percent affluent.
Glenn’s last blog post..HAPPY GOLDEN BIRTHDAY TO THE PEACE SIGN! ONE WORLD, ONE SOUL!
May 3rd, 2008 at 8:29 am
Hooooo rahhhhhh!!! ’bout bloody time eh Bec? Maybe, just maybe, things are looking up :o)
Penelope’s last blog post..I thank the Lord for you.
May 3rd, 2008 at 3:44 pm
ahem.
I think the labour party has unfairly taken the blame for a decline in the world economy. And the Tories will get in this time, but will be out again in four years when the country remembers what a bunch of selfish, short sighted arseholes they are.
But you knew i was going to say that.
It’s a lot easier being a supporter of a party that isn’t in power. You can hold an idealized view of what your lot would do without being disappointed by decisions you disagree with.
I’m with ,a href=”http://relaxedparents.com/2008/05/03/london-im-ashamed-of-you/”>(un)relaxed dad on the subject of Boris. Stick to the panel shows.
Dan’s last blog post..Possibly the reason my keyboard is currently covered in paint
May 3rd, 2008 at 11:36 pm
yorksdevil - Ooo, suggesting that London is a sewer? Our capital? Have you lost your mind? The only thing that was wrong with London was they had a red faced baboon’s arse as the Mayor… and now they’ve sorted that out.
yorksdevil - Lib Dems - always to be known as a vote wasted. You have a weekly collection? Count yourselves as one of the lucky ones!
Glenn - I really hope you feel the way I feel right now on November 5th when the votes come pouring in… or a month later after the inevitable legal battle!
Penelope - Finger, toes, eyes, legs and everything else crossed. It’s a shame that prick has another two years that he can stay in office. I’m surprised he hasn’t been ripped apart by his own party yet!
Dan - I can always rely on you to be the voice for the non-disillusioned. I respect you for your belief in the Labour party. I have to. It’s hard being the one going against public opinion. I applaud you for that.
I would agree with you about the blame they are getting but I can’t. I just can’t.
They have done everything in their power (it seems) to destroy the education system in this country making it virtually impossible for anyone to get a university education and now end up thousands and thousands of pounds in debt.
And there’s just no hope anymore.
It’s short sighted I know and probably totally irresponsible but Boris Johnson makes me feel like there is a brain behind those foppish features. Ken Livingstone was all doom and gloom. David Cameron and the Conservatives gives me hope, they make me feel like there may be light ahead. And I think we could all do with a little of that.
It is, however, going to be interesting seeing what glitz and glamour policies Labour are going to try and impress us with in the next two years.
Bec’s last blog post..In No Way Celebrating. Honest.
May 5th, 2008 at 8:40 am
Virtually impossible for anyone to get a University Education?
There is now a greater proportion of school leavers in university than ever before. The debt thing I agree with, but what’s the alternative? Increase taxes so the man on the street pays for someone elses education. Not exactly a tory policy.
The Labor party have faults I admit. Big ones. But the misery inflicted by the tories last period in power (poll tax, massive unemployment, privatization of nationalized industries, the beginning of the end of the nhs) means I will seriously consider getting out of the country when they get back in this time (which I grant you they will).
Dan’s last blog post..Saturday Review: Iron Man
May 5th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
That was a big loss but I think it’ll take more than chicken noises for Gordon to act. he’s like a mongoose hanging onto a snake. It’ll be interesting to see what happens.
Selma’s last blog post..Just A Bit Of Peace And Quiet
May 5th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Dan - There is the idealistic part of me which says yes, put some of the money in the tax pot towards making this country better by sending the best and brightest to uni. Let Britain shine forth with ideas and debate and achievement in the academic realm. Put as much money towards ’sponsoring’ academics as we do sports people. Of course I know this will never happen.
I left uni with £18,000 debt, and no degree, because the change in the grant system decided that because my uni changed campus that was a new course and I could no longer claim the grant I was entitled to in my first and second year. I had to get Student Loans (that were only around £1600 each year and then lived on my credit cards and overdrafts. This is a story which is repeated over and over and over. The town where my uni was wouldn’t employ students and… but this is all irrelevant.
There a lot of people my age and a little younger who were totally screwed by the SLC and had to drop out before getting so far in debt they couldn’t climb out. There are bright kids I see every week through the Scouts who laugh at the thought of going to uni because they think there is no point - that the cost is too much and that there won’t be a job for them when they leave.
There may be a greater proportion of school leavers in uni but how many of them a) finish their degrees, or b) leave uni without crippling amounts of debt that make their lives so hard they can’t wait for the job the degree should get them and end up working a call centre to survive?
Oh God. I am so sorry for drivelling on like this. I am lucky enough to not be old enough to remember any of the misery the Conservative’s caused during the 80s and early 90s but 11 years later I will take a little short sightedness just to like my country again and feel a little trust in my Prime Minister - something I will never be able to do with Gordon Brown.
Selma - he’s already back tracking. He’s getting rid of the pay as you go ‘bin tax’ that was ridiculously unpopular… I wonder what will be next to go?
Bec’s last blog post..Hormonal